Nov302022 by DmediaNo Comments

Amazon Deforestation in Brazil Remains Near 15-Year High

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Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon slowed slightly last year, a year after setting a 15-year high, according to closely watched numbers published Wednesday. The data was released by the National Institute for Space Research. The agency's Prodes monitoring system shows the rainforest lost an area roughly the size of Qatar, about 11,600 square kilometers in the 12 months from August 2021 to July 2022. That is down 11% compared with the previous year, when more than 13,000 square kilometers were destroyed. For more than a decade deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon declined dramatically and never rose back above 10,000 square kilometers. Then came the presidency of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, beginning in January 2019. This will be the last report published under Bolsonaro, who lost his reelection bid and will…


Nov302022 by DmediaNo Comments

African Women and Girls Most at Risk of HIV   

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In South Africa, which has the world’s largest HIV-positive population, authorities say girls and young women are now the most at-risk demographic with many having resorted to transactional sex to pay the bills during COVID pandemic lockdowns.  Ahead of World Aids Day on Dec. 1, VOA spoke to a former sex worker and visited a clinic that treats adolescent girls and others with HIV. Kate Bartlett reports from Johannesburg, South Africa, on efforts to halt the spread. Camera: Zaheer Cassim  ...


Nov302022 by DmediaNo Comments

Malawi Launches Africa’s First Children’s Malaria Vaccine

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Malawi and the World Health Organization are rolling out a new malaria vaccine for young children that backers say will reduce deaths from the mosquito-borne disease. The RTSS vaccine was pilot tested on more than one million children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi and recommended a year ago by the WHO. Despite a low effectiveness rate of 30%, the vaccine has raised hopes that some of the more than 400,000 people who die annually from malaria can be saved.  Malaria remains a huge public health problem in Malawi, with about one third of its 20 million people getting infected each year.  According to the ministry of health, the disease kills five Malawians every day, most of them children under the age of five or pregnant women who were not presented…


Nov302022 by DmediaNo Comments

Chinese Astronauts Reach Tiangong Space Station

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Three Chinese astronauts arrived Wednesday at the country’s space station as part of a six-month mission that includes the station’s first in-orbit crew rotation. The astronauts are replacing three others who have been at the Tiangong station since early June. China docked the last of the station’s three modules earlier this month and astronauts are working on the final phases of the construction process. China plans to launch a powerful space telescope next year. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. ...


Nov292022 by DmediaNo Comments

US Bat Species Devastated by Fungus Now Listed as Endangered

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The Biden administration declared the northern long-eared bat endangered on Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to save a species driven to the brink of extinction by white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease. "White-nose syndrome is decimating cave-dwelling bat species like the northern long-eared bat at unprecedented rates," said Martha Williams, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The agency is "deeply committed to working with partners on a balanced approach that reduces the impacts of disease and protects the survivors to recover northern long-eared bat populations," she said. First documented in the U.S. in 2006, the disease has infected 12 types of bats and killed millions. The northern long-eared bat is among the hardest hit, with estimated declines of 97% or higher in affected populations. The bat is found in…


Nov292022 by DmediaNo Comments

Fentanyl’s Scourge Visible on Streets of Los Angeles

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In a filthy alley behind a Los Angeles doughnut shop, Ryan Smith convulsed in the grips of a fentanyl high — lurching from moments of slumber to bouts of violent shivering on a warm summer day.  When Brandice Josey, another homeless addict, bent down and blew a puff of fentanyl smoke his way in an act of charity, Smith sat up and slowly opened his lip to inhale the vapor as if it was the cure to his problems.  Smith, wearing a grimy yellow T-shirt that said "Good Vibes Only," reclined on his backpack and dozed the rest of the afternoon on the asphalt, unperturbed by the stench of rotting food and human waste that permeated the air.  For too many people strung out on the drug, the sleep that…


Nov292022 by DmediaNo Comments

Twitter Rolls Back COVID Misinformation Policy

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Twitter has rolled back a policy that was aimed at tackling misinformation related to COVID-19 on the social media platform, lending itself to the risk of a potential surge in false claims even as cases rise in China and some parts of the world. The move also comes amid concerns of Twitter's ability to fight misinformation after it let go about half of its staff, including those involved in content moderation, under new boss Elon Musk. "Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy," according to an update on its blog page. The update was first reported by CNN on Tuesday. The specific measures that Twitter will drop were not immediately clear, and the company did not immediately respond to a request to share…


Nov292022 by DmediaNo Comments

WHO Renames Monkeypox as Mpox, Citing Racism Concerns

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The World Health Organization has renamed monkeypox as mpox, citing concerns the original name of the decades-old animal disease could be construed as discriminatory and racist. The U.N. health agency said in a statement Monday that mpox was its new preferred name for monkeypox, saying that both monkeypox and mpox would be used for the next year while the old name is phased out. WHO said it was concerned by the "racist and stigmatizing language" that arose after monkeypox spread to more than 100 countries. It said numerous individuals and countries asked the organization "to propose a way forward to change the name." In August, WHO began consulting experts about renaming the disease, shortly after the U.N. agency declared monkeypox's spread to be a global emergency. To date, there have…


Nov282022 by DmediaNo Comments

Polio is Back in Indonesia, Sparking Vaccination Campaign

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Children in school uniforms and toddlers with their parents lined up Monday for polio vaccinations in the Sigli town square on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, after four children were found infected with the highly contagious disease that was declared eliminated in the country less than a decade ago.  The virus was first detected in October in a 7-year-old boy suffering from partial paralysis in the province of Aceh near Sigli, and since then three other cases have been detected, prompting the mass immunization and information drive.  Officials say that polio immunization rates in the conservative province are well behind the rest of the country, with efforts hampered by widespread disinformation the vaccine is incompatible with religious beliefs, among other things. The government has also been…


Nov282022 by DmediaNo Comments

UN: Great Barrier Reef Should Be on Heritage ‘Danger’ List

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A United Nations-backed mission is recommending that the Great Barrier Reef be added to the list of endangered World Heritage sites, warning that without "ambitious, rapid and sustained" climate action the world's largest coral reef is in peril. The warning came in a report published Monday following a 10-day mission to the reef last March by officials from UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The reef, a living place of immense variety and beauty on the north-east coast of Australia, has been on UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1981. Australia's federal government and Queensland's state authorities should adopt more ambitious emission reduction targets, in line with international efforts to limit future warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, according to the report. Feedback…


Nov282022 by DmediaNo Comments

China Eases COVID Rules After Protests, Keeps Wider Strategy

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Chinese authorities eased some anti-virus rules but affirmed their severe "zero COVID" strategy Monday after protesters demanded President Xi Jinping resign in the biggest show of opposition to the ruling Communist Party in decades. The government made no comment on the protests or the criticism of Xi, but the decision to ease at least some of the restrictions appeared to be aimed at quelling anger. Still, analysts don't expect the government to back down on its COVID strategy and note authorities are adept at stifling dissent. It wasn't clear how many people were detained since protests began Friday and spread to cities including Shanghai, the country's financial center, and the capital, Beijing. The city government of Beijing announced Monday it would no longer set up gates to block access to…


Nov282022 by DmediaNo Comments

Pakistan Launches Polio Drive 

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Pakistan authorities said they are launching a five-day polio drive to eradicate the crippling disease from the country. Officials said 100,000 healthcare workers begin working Monday to vaccinate 13.5 million children under the age of five across 36 high risk districts, including Islamabad, the capital. “Our aim is to ensure timely and repeated vaccination of eligible children,” said Shahzad Baig, the coordinator of the national emergency operations center. “High-risk districts are our top priority and we are keen to eliminate the polio virus from the challenging areas, while protecting the rest of the region, as well,” said Baig. Twenty cases of the wild polio virus were reported this year in Pakistan, including 17 in the country’s volatile North Waziristan district, located on the country’s border with Afghanistan. Pakistan has come…


Nov282022 by DmediaNo Comments

China Prepares to Send New 3-Person Crew to Space Station

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Final preparations were being made Monday to send a new three-person crew to China's space station as it nears completion amid intensifying competition with the United States. The China Manned Space Agency said the Shenzhou-15 mission will take off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert at 11:08 p.m. Tuesday night. The six-month mission, commanded by Fei Junlong and crewed by Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu, will be the last "in the construction phase of China's space station," agency official Ji Qiming told reporters Monday. Fei, 57, is a veteran of the 2005 four-day Shenzhou-6 mission which was the second in which China sent a human into space. Deng and Zhang are flying in space for the first time. The station's third and final…


Nov282022 by DmediaNo Comments

Bird Flu in Nebraska Prompts Slaughter of Additional 1.8M Chickens

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Just like on other farms where bird flu has been found this year, all the chickens on the Nebraska farm will be killed to limit the spread of the disease. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says more than 52.3 million birds in 46 states — mostly chickens and turkeys on commercial farms — have been slaughtered as part of this year's outbreak. Nebraska is second only to Iowa’s 15.5 million birds killed with 6.8 million birds now affected at 13 farms. In most past bird flu outbreaks the virus largely died off during the summer, but this year's version found a way to linger and started to make a resurgence this fall with more than 6 million birds killed in September. The virus is primarily spread by wild birds as…


Nov272022 by DmediaNo Comments

Worried About Ebola, Uganda Extends Outbreak Epicenter’s Quarantine

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Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has extended a quarantine placed on two districts that are the epicenter of the country's Ebola outbreak by 21 days, adding that his government's response to the disease was succeeding. Movement into and out of the Mubende and Kassanda districts in central Uganda will be restricted up to Dec. 17, the presidency said late Saturday. It was originally imposed for 21 days on Oct. 15, then extended for the same period Nov. 5. The extension is "to further sustain the gains in control of Ebola that we have made, and to protect the rest of the country from continued exposure," according to Museveni. The government's anti-Ebola efforts were succeeding with two districts now going for roughly two weeks without new cases, the president said. "It may…


Nov272022 by DmediaNo Comments

COVID Protests Hit Shanghai as Anger Spreads Across China

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Protests simmered in Shanghai early Sunday, as residents in several Chinese cities, many of them angered by a deadly fire in the country's far west, pushed back against heavy COVID-19 curbs nearly three years into the pandemic. A fire Thursday that killed 10 people in a high-rise building in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, has sparked widespread public anger as many internet users surmised that residents could not escape in time because the building was partially locked down, which city officials denied. In Shanghai, China's most populous city and financial hub, residents gathered on Saturday night at the city's Wulumuqi Road -- which borrows its name from Urumqi -- for a vigil that turned into a protest in the early hours of Sunday. “Lift lockdown for Urumqi, lift lockdown…


Nov262022 by DmediaNo Comments

COVID Protests in China’s Urumqi Region

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Protesters, angry about long COVID-19 lockdowns, have taken to the streets in Urumqi, the capital of China’s far western Xinjiang region. The protests followed a high-rise apartment building fire in Urumqi on Thursday that killed 10 people and concerns that the lockdown measures may have prevented firefighters from entering the building quickly and may have hampered the exit of some residents. The demonstrations also follow online discussions, now removed, on Chinese social media questioning why there are maskless spectators at the World Cup games, while China continues to subject its citizens to long lockdowns. “More than 120 countries in the rest of the world have lifted their COVID restrictive measures quite some time ago,” began one of the questions posed by a writer who said he lives in north central…


Nov262022 by DmediaNo Comments

China Reports Third Consecutive Daily Record for New COVID Cases

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China reported 35,183 new COVID-19 infections on Friday, of which 3,474 were symptomatic and 31,709 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Saturday, setting a new high for the third consecutive day. That compared with 32,943 new cases a day earlier -- 3,103 symptomatic and 29,840 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately. Excluding imported cases, China reported 34,909 new local cases on Friday, of which 3,405 were symptomatic and 31,504 were asymptomatic, up from 32,695 a day earlier. There were no deaths, keeping fatalities at 5,232. As of Friday, mainland China had confirmed 304,093 cases with symptoms. Mega-cities continue to struggle to contain outbreaks, with Chongqing and Guangzhou recording the bulk of new cases. Chongqing, a southwestern city of 32 million people, reported 7,721 new local cases for Friday,…


Nov262022 by TechmanNo Comments

US Bans Huawei, ZTE Equipment Sales, Citing National Security Risk

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The Biden administration has banned approvals of new telecommunications equipment from China's Huawei Technologies HWT.UL and ZTE 000063.SZ because they pose "an unacceptable risk" to U.S. national security. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said Friday it had adopted the final rules, which also bar the sale or import of equipment made by China's surveillance equipment maker Dahua Technology Co 002236.SZ, video surveillance firm Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co Ltd 002415.SZ and telecoms firm Hytera Communications Corp Ltd 002583.SZ. The move represents Washington's latest crackdown on the Chinese tech giants amid fears that Beijing could use Chinese tech companies to spy on Americans. "These new rules are an important part of our ongoing actions to protect the American people from national security threats involving telecommunications," FCC Chairperson Jessica Rosenworcel said…


Nov262022 by DmediaNo Comments

NASA’s Orion Capsule Enters Far-Flung Orbit Around Moon

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NASA's Orion capsule entered an orbit stretching tens of thousands of miles around the moon Friday, as it neared the halfway mark of its test flight. The capsule and its three test dummies entered lunar orbit more than a week after launching on the $4 billion demo that's meant to pave the way for astronauts. It will remain in this broad but stable orbit for nearly a week, completing just half a lap before heading home. As of Friday's engine firing, the capsule was 380,000 kilometers from Earth. It's expected to reach a maximum distance of almost 432,000 kilometers in a few days. That will set a new distance record for a capsule designed to carry people one day. "It is a statistic, but it's symbolic for what it represents,"…


Nov252022 by DmediaNo Comments

London to Expand Vehicle Pollution Zone to Cover 9 Million People

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Older and more heavily polluting vehicles will have to pay to enter the entire metropolitan area of London starting next August, the British capital's mayor said Friday. Sadiq Khan said the ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) would be expanded beyond its current confines starting August 29 to encompass the entire 9 million people of greater London. Announcing a parallel expansion of bus services in outer London, he argued that air pollution from older and heavier vehicles was making Londoners "sick from cradle to the grave." The ULEZ has proved transformational, the mayor said, and its extension would mean "5 million more people will be able to breathe cleaner air and live healthier lives." But the plan has prompted a fierce backlash from political opponents and some residents in the capital, who…


Nov252022 by DmediaNo Comments

Global Wildlife Summit Approves Shark Protections 

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Delegates at a global summit on trade in endangered species on Friday approved a plan to protect 54 more shark species, a move that could drastically reduce the lucrative and cruel shark fin trade.  Members of the requiem shark and the hammerhead shark families will now have their trade tightly controlled under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).  The binding resolutions were adopted by consensus on the final day of the two-week meeting by delegates from 183 countries and the European Union.  "Proposal 37 approved," Shirley Binder, Panamanian delegate and head of the plenary, said of the requiem shark proposal, after Japan failed to get the blue shark removed from the measure.  The proposal regarding the hammerhead shark passed without debate.  Binder earlier told AFP the "historic…


Nov252022 by TechmanNo Comments

Musk Plans to Relaunch Twitter Premium Service, Again

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Elon Musk said Friday that Twitter plans to relaunch its premium service that will offer different colored check marks to accounts next week, in a fresh move to revamp the service after a previous attempt backfired. It's the latest change to the social media platform that the billionaire Tesla CEO bought last month for $44 billion, coming a day after Musk said he would grant "amnesty" for suspended accounts and causing yet more uncertainty for users. Twitter previously suspended the premium service, which under Musk granted blue-check labels to anyone paying $8 a month, because of a wave of imposter accounts. Originally, the blue check was given to government entities, corporations, celebrities and journalists verified by the platform to prevent impersonation. In the latest version, companies will get a gold…


Nov252022 by DmediaNo Comments

Uganda Closes Schools to Fight Ebola, New Cases Fall

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Uganda closed schools nationwide on Friday to curb the spread of Ebola, despite the health minister insisting to AFP that new cases had declined. The directive to close schools two weeks before the end of term was announced earlier this month following the deaths of eight children from the highly contagious disease.  But in recent weeks, the number of new infections registered in the capital, Kampala, and the epicenters of Mubende and Kassanda has declined, Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng told AFP. "The major breakthrough in this fight against Ebola for Uganda is that the communities have realized that Ebola is deadly and it kills," she said.  "We encourage the population to remain alert and cooperate with the health teams if we are to win this battle and there are…


Nov252022 by DmediaNo Comments

China Reports Another One-Day COVID Case Record, Tightens Curbs

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China on Friday reported another single-day record-high number of COVID-19 infections, as cities across the country enforced measures and curbs to try to control outbreaks.  Excluding imported infections, China recorded 32,695 new local COVID-19 cases on Thursday, of which 3,041 were symptomatic and 29,654 were asymptomatic, up from 31,144 a day earlier, which was the previous record. Big outbreaks are numerous and far-flung, with the southern city of Guangzhou and southwestern Chongqing recording the bulk of the new cases, although hundreds of new infections have been reported daily in cities such as Chengdu, Jinan, Lanzhou, Xian and Wuhan.  Cases quadrupled in Shijiazhuang to 3,197 on Thursday from the previous day.   China's capital, Beijing, reported 424 symptomatic and 1,436 asymptomatic cases on Thursday, compared with 509 symptomatic and 1,139 asymptomatic cases…


Nov252022 by DmediaNo Comments

Avian Flu Outbreak Wipes Out 50.54 Million US Birds, a Record

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Avian flu has wiped out 50.54 million birds in the United States this year, making it the country's deadliest outbreak in history, U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed on Thursday.  The deaths of chickens, turkeys and other birds represent the worst U.S. animal-health disaster to date, topping the previous record of 50.5 million birds that died in an avian flu outbreak in 2015.  Birds often die after becoming infected. Entire flocks, which can top a million birds at egg-laying chicken farms, are also culled to control the spread of the disease after a bird tests positive.  Losses of poultry flocks sent prices for eggs and turkey meat to record highs, worsening economic pain for consumers facing high inflation and making Thursday's Thanksgiving celebrations more expensive in the United States. Europe…


Nov242022 by TechmanNo Comments

Twitter, Others Slip on Removing Hate Speech, EU Review Says

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Twitter took longer to review hateful content and removed less of it in 2022 compared with the previous year, according to European Union data released Thursday. The EU figures were published as part of an annual evaluation of online platforms' compliance with the 27-nation bloc's code of conduct on disinformation. Twitter wasn't alone; most other tech companies signed up to the voluntary code also scored worse. But the figures could foreshadow trouble for Twitter in complying with the EU's tough new online rules after owner Elon Musk fired many of the platform's 7,500 full-time workers and an untold number of contractors responsible for content moderation and other crucial tasks. The EU report, carried out over six weeks in the spring, found Twitter assessed just over half of the notifications it…